Frontier

America has always been a nation with a convenient frontier to care for surplus population, to produce new goods and new wealth. When the eastern seaboard became too crowded, folks started pushing westward. The grass was always greener on the other side of the hill. It took courage to keep pushing on and on, but they had the courage, and so our country ceased to be a colony and became a nation. In the middle of the last century a learned man by the name of Horace Greeley admonished all young men to go west, and they've been coming ever since. A century is a long time in the life of a man but a short time in the life of a nation. One hundred years ago last summer the first settlers came to Utah. One hundred years ago next year gold was discovered in California. In one hundred years the western United States was settled and that fabulous frontier has grown smaller and smaller. You can only push westward so far and then the waves of the Pacific wash you back to shore. That is what has happened. Ten million people now live in California. One-tenth of America's population lives in California, Washington and Oregon. Where is the frontier that America has always depended upon to take care of a growing population? Where is the frontier that always awaited development to produce the riches our nation had to have to become great and to gain in stature? Where is the promised land? Where are the fascinating western horizons to which the youth of our young nation could always look with starry-eyed expectation? One thing sure, if there is such a thing as an American frontier today, Arizona is part of it.

Arizona is the youngest state in the Union, the fifth largest, one of the smallest in population. If all the people in Arizona lived in one community, there wouldn't be enough to form a fair-sized suburb of some of our large eastern cities. Pronounced population expansion has only taken place here within the last decade. Seems like the millions who swept westward to California and the Pacific Northwest passed Arizona by. They sure did.

THE COLORADO

Photograph by Herb McLaughlin, taken in Marble Canyon.

From the Wind River Mountains where the Green, a tributary is born, to the Gulf of California, where it empties its flood into the sea, the river is two thousand miles long. It drains an area as large as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. The virgin flow of the river at Lee's Ferry, dividing point of the Upper and Lower Basin states, is 16,271,000 acrefeet of water. In 1911 a traveler wrote: "The Colorado River is unlike any other great river in the world. For present purposes it seems to be almost useless. In a large part of its course it drains an arid country which needs every drop of water thus carried away." Yet today we, in the arid West, look toward this grand and majestic river as the source of life and stability for generations to come.

Business?..GOOD!

We vary our subject matter this month. Instead of talking about the scenery, we speak of such mundane subjects as copper mining, business opportunities, materials and markets. As we have pointed out many times before, Arizona has climate and scenery in abundance, making it a grand place to work in and to live in. We do need new industry to make jobs for the people who have come and are coming to this state and we do try to point out herein that many opportunities for new industry present themselves. We hope that we have supplied enough information to at least have the specialized manufacturer or business man investigate this field at greater length. We know the time will never come when belching smokestacks will sully our attractive landscape and foul up our publicized atmosphere. May heaven forbid! Yet we cannot agree with the attitude of the old-timer who grumbled when a neighbor moved in a hundred miles away. "Getting too damned crowded!" he said.

Business is good in Arizona! No question about it. Will it get better or worse? Who knows? But by all means read Herb Leggett's statistical report on the current Arizona business situation, which we present both with pride and pleasure. Mr. Leggett can make a cold statistic look as dashing and romantic as the hero of a wild west tale. This is the first time he has been with us. We hope he will return again.

In closing the Arizona story for November, we would like to report our December issue is now rolling merrily along. It should be rather gay and colorful in keeping with a gay and colorful season. We hope you will like it. It would make a nice Christmas card. Different, at least.-R. C.

Shine Smith's Christmas Party for the Navajos, which we announced in our issue last month, is going to be a big one, judging from the response of our readers. The cause is a most worthy one. Shine, a missionary to the Navajos, has spent a lifetime helping them out. Small gifts of food and clothing from our readers will be welcome. Small monetary contributions will be used for medicine. If you would like to take part in this wonderful party, send gifts now to Shine Smith, Flagstaff, Arizona.

LEGEND

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

RAYMOND CARLSON, Editor George M. Avey, Art Editor

DAN E. GARVEY Governor of Arizona

ARIZONA HIGHWAY COMMISSION

LEGEND